Man jailed for using false identities to source hundreds of properties for crime
A Chinese national has been jailed for using false identities to source hundreds of properties for organised crime.
Feng Xu, 43, was arrested at his flat in Holiday Street, Birmingham on 14 May.
Officers found a stash of 31 different false or fraudulent Chinese or Portuguese passports, along with numerous ID documents and £94,000 cash.
A computer database was recovered and had listing of 446 different addresses which Xu had been involved in renting out.
He also use a variety of fake identities and aliases supported by false documents such as pay slips, utility bills and bank statements, all made himself.
Once leases were signed the properties were give to criminals who set them up as brothels, cannabis farms or to house illegal immigrants.
Over the three and a half years before Xu's arrest more than £4 million in rent was paid out with some paid to crime groups.
Over a seven month period, officers mapped out the properties and found two properties which were found to be housing large-scale cannabis farms.
One near Ludlow in Shropshire, and another at Newent, Gloucestershire.
At a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court in October, Xu pleaded guilty to 22 different offences, including fraud and money laundering.
At the same court on Friday (20 December), he was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.
He will face deportation after serving his sentence.
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